Usage
The one and two-cent coins were initially introduced in order to ensure that the introduction of the euro was not used as an excuse by retailers to heavily round up prices. However, due to the cost of maintaining a circulation of low value coins, by business and the mints, Finland and the Netherlands round prices to the nearest five cents (Swedish rounding) if paying with cash money, while producing only a handful of those coins for collectors, rather than general circulation. Despite this, the coins are still legal tender and produced outside these states, so if a customer with a one-cent coin minted elsewhere wishes to pay with it, he may.
The De Nederlandsche Bank calculated it would save $36 million a year by not using the smaller coins. Other countries such as Germany favoured retaining the coins due to their desire for €1.99 prices, which appear more attractive to the consumer than a €2 price. According to a Eurobarometer survey of EU citizens, Germans are most sceptical about the removal of the one coin, however on average there is a majority (58%) for their removal.
Read more about this topic: 2 Cent Euro Coins
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